Drug screening to be required for some jobless benefits

Gov. Rick Perry said Friday that a plan to drug-screen some people who get unemployment benefits – and to deny checks if they test positive — is a way to help them take responsibility for their lives.

“If you’ve got a drug problem, there are ways that we can help you to get that licked. But we are not going to entice individuals to not be responsible,” Perry said at a ceremony at which he signed into law Senate Bill 21 by Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands and Rep. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe.

The measure provides for drug screening for applicants who work in areas in which drug testing is required for employment. Someone who is determined to be likely to use drugs in the screening will have to take a drug test. Benefits will be denied if the person fails the test, although another test can be taken four week later.

There would be an exception for someone who enrolls in a drug-abuse treatment program.

Perry was introduced at the press conference by Barbara Legler, widow of Rep. Ken Legler, R-Pasadena, who died in 2012. He had filed such legislation in previous sessions, and the bill was named the Ken Legler Act in his memory.